The FastDay Forum

Hmmm, a quick scan of most maintainers' BMI shows them lower than me, even @wildmissus who's not even supposed to be maintaining yet.
Am I still too fat then, peeples?

Not when I saw you!!

I don't think so @PennyForthem. As soon as I hit a BMI of 25 I'll consider myself a normal weight - not fat - and I'll come into this tent. Could be another year, but save a spot for me in this boring tent!

BMI is such an imperfect measure. If you're happy where you are, stay there.

[wildmissus]

Interesting comment @PennyForthem. I have often wondered at what weight I will start maintaining. I am currently 11st 7lb and a healthy BMI but I am still fat and I still feel fat. What I mean by that is my body shape is tall, slim, with a pot belly - apple shaped but someone has eaten three quarters they way round the apple. In my late twenties I went down to 10st 2lb which would give me a BMI of about 21.5 and a flat tum - I felt great and looked great. Since then however I have has two c-sections and am in my mid 40's. I will probably go down to somewhere between 10st 7lb and 10st 10lb, I'll just wait and see how I feel. I know I will never have a flat tum again. How do you feel Penny. I've see your pictures and you look great. Personally I don't like to see people at the bottom end of a healthy BMI.

I completely agree with @MaryAnn (even if the science says that 'on average' it's a good indicator). My daughter is shorter than me and a completely different build- much wider hips, heavier legs, broader shoulders etc hence an BMI showing overweight/obese. She would never have my stick thin ankles, whatever she does.
Go by how you feel Penny, you're the best judge, not by looking at other people's numbers.

(By the way... some people with low healthy BMIs can look ok too @wildmissus and might have a pot belly too! )

Hi PennyForthem, I was trying to get below 9 stone with a BMI about 23 but I struggled to get below 9st 7lb. Now I've decided to stay at 9st 7lb and I'm on maintenance, that's a comfortable weight for me even though it's at the top end of the BMI scale. The numbers are not set in stone, we are all different and the BMI is just a rough guide, you are below 25 which is in the healthy range. You have done so well and if you are happy with your weight as it is now there is no need to worry about trying to get to a lower BMI.

I've been maintaining since the end of July. At first I felt that I could loose more weight but I now know that I would struggle to be a lower weight so I am settling for around 130lb 59k. The real trick will be to be this weight on Jan 1st but if I am up a bit I know how to shift it. Long may we continue to be boring and the same old same old.

While it might seem boring and uneventful compared to the downward journey, know that there are quite a few of us losers looking on with HUGE admiration. This is the hard part. This is the bit we fail at (at least in the past), not the losing.

P. s. I sort of have one foot in the door here. I'm hoping to have both feet in after Xmas. If you don't see me then, send out a search party.

I'm with @MaryAnn on the admiration and the foot in the door. So if I don't show up here PDQ, you all can search for me too. Fortunately since we are all just virtual people, you won't have to send part of the search party to Japan and part to Colorado (or, come to think of it, have to deal with tsunamis or avalanches )

BMI is such an imperfect measure. If you're happy where you are, stay there.

I started a new post about this the other day because I was feeling cold and more tired than before and wondered whether it had anything to do with reaching a BMI of below 22 (losing 9kg over 4 months). The GP I saw today made me have some blood tests (to check iron levels, thyroid function, B12, etc) but she was happy with this weight/BMI for me. She advised me not to lose much more as I looked slim - which was kind of her to say.

I think I now look like having an average built for my height and age (46) although in comparison with many people in the shops today, in an ordinary city in Australia, I know I am at the slimmer side.

I so love this diet/WOE as it allows me to sit here with a glass of wine, waiting for the baked potatoes and scotch fillet on the BBQ, with a Greek salad ready to go, knowing that any weight gain will be 'dealt with' by a fast day on Monday.

Thank you, lovely peeples x

I've really thought about this maintenance lark (and it's not really a lark, is it peeps?) and have come to the conclusion that this is where I'd like to stay. Yes, I no longer have a waist, but then, as an apple, I never had one.

When I was with my first husband, he watched my weight like a hawk and liked me about 9 stones. Looking back at photos, I truly looked gaunt. No wonder the marriage failed - I put on weight, so he moved on to a newer, slimmer model!!

But now there are 3 people who are happy with my current weight:
Me
Hub
My doctor.

There's also another consideration - to lose more would be to undertake even more fasts/liquid fasts and I'm just not prepared to go there. I like my food just toooooo much!!

So, I'll just stick around here and feel very content with things.

Love you lot xxx

I agree with @Merlin, you don't need to lose any more weight, you look fab as you are, very 'trim'.

BMI is such an imperfect measure. If you're happy where you are, stay there.

.......................

I really could not have put it better, with 'imperfect' being the most important word here. I am at the low end of the BMI scale but you could grab handfuls of fat from my waist, back, stomach and spare tyre but ( notice my bottom was not featured? ) you'd be terrified about snapping my slim legs or arms. Also, although I don't have 'Chesty Morgans' I do take a size 34 D bra so no lightweight here even though my actual weight is quite light. It is for this reason that I no longer have my BMI on show as it does not give an accurate picture of my size or shape. @Pennyforthem you look great to me so don't worry about BMI, to me it is about as meaningless as '5 a day' and I think the first Mr Penny must have been blind or an idiot, or both, just keep doing whatever it is you are doing and stay happy.

Ballerina x

Hello and welcome. I started 5:2 and maintenance about 3 weeks ago and am loving it so far

Despite a huge blow out whilst I was at a conference last week, I haven't gained weight ... its still early days to say if I'm really maintaining, but I am hopeful that this WOE will do just that and will help me keep my weight steady and stop those pounds coming back

Welcome and good luck

I just feel real sad that I don't have that same luxury of being able to have a big blowout and not gain any weight and I would even go as far as saying that this sometimes makes me feel a bit jealous because I also want to be in that same position and yet, I see so many people not gaining weight with a big blowout whilst I am always recording some quite massive weight gains with these big blowouts.

Today has been one typical example of that because yesterday, I had a meal at Morrisons' but although I did eat a bit more than normal yesterday, I didn't go over the top with that. Yet, I woke up this morning to find that my weight was now 72.2kg which is an increase of 2.7kg (a whole 6 pounds) from yesterday's value.

Overall, my weight at my official weekly weigh-ins on a Monday are consistently coming in at around 11 stone 5 pounds and so from that concept, I suppose that you could say that I'm not gaining weight over time even with those big weekend blowouts. However, I am finding that in order to maintain that weight, my other feeding days outside of the one fasting day which I have per week have to be low calorie days as results such as what I have had today continue to cause a lot of fear of my weight spiralling upwards if I don't have those controls in place on my other feeding days.

That in turn makes me feel very restricted in what I eat which is very sad, because this WOE was supposed to remove those feelings of fear, and of being over-restrictive in terms of what I am eating.

[carorees]

34D @Ballerina? Try 34F! Can't understand how I can be that size but take a size 12?

I completely agree @PennyForThem that if maintenance would mean fasting/restricting more than you're happy with, then it's best to stick to a slightly higher weight. Research shows that a stable overweight BMI is likely to be healthier than a yoyoing BMI.

I am with you on that, @carorees. Even with all the weight I lost and the 3 sizes down, I still have a huge cleavage (I think in UK sizes it's 34F as well). OH is pleased with that, of course, but I have now back pain I didn't have before so it's a bit annoying